Patent GB-189909508-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in the Manufacture of Weldless Chains and in Apparatus Employed therein.
Inventor: WAILES JOHN WILLIAM
Filed: 1899-05-05
Granted: 1900-05-05
Abstract: 9508. Wailes, J. W., and Gross, F. May 5. Making chains.-A bar of cruciform or other section is first rolled, pressed, or hammered into a series of elongated discs arranged alternately in planes at rightangles and connected together. The discs are then pressed so as to force the metal from their centres into the edges and to leave only a thin central web, which is removed by punching. The bar is now in the form of a series of links, Fig. 5, approximating to the finished size and shape and connected together at the ends of blocks 9. These blocks are cut or sheared away by the apparatus described d below, and the detached links are then pressed in dies to the required oval shape. The connecting-blocks may be removed by a planing- appliance, of which the tool 10, Figs. 13 and 14, consists of a stem with a semicircular cup at the end ; the inside of the cup is shaped so that it may fit over, be swung around, and move downwards over the end of the vertical link 1 ; the outside is adapted to fit over the inside of the horizontal link 2 ; at the bottom of the cup are two straight cutting-edges 55, 56 ; the curved edges of the cup also serve for trimming edges. The tool is moved back into the position shown in the thin dotted lines, Fig. 13, so as to rest on the top of the block to be removed, and is swung to and fro through half a revolution. The cutting- edges alternatelv move inwards one on each side of the vertical link, and remove the metal first from ore and then from the other side of the block; the tool is gradually fed forward until it assumes the position shown in thick dotted lines, when the block has been cut away to the central plane of the chain bar. This operation is repeated along the length of the bar, which is then turned over and treated from the opposite side, when the links become detached. Fig. 7 shows the machine in which the operation is performed ; the chain bar 1, 2 is secured on a bed 41, and the shank of the tool 10 is clamped in a holder at the end of a spindle 13, the bearing 14 of which is angularly adjustable on the part 20 of the frame 20, 27, 28. This frame is for the purpose of feeding the tool pivoted upon the pin 21 and spindle 29, which are in line with the centre of the end of the vertical link 1 being treated, and is tilted by means of a hand-wheel 50 and bevel and worm gearing. The tool 10 and spindle 13 receive their oscillatory movement by means of a wheel 15 on the spindle in gear with a toothed quadrant 24 on a spindle 25, which is journalled in the frame 20, 27, 28 and carries a slotted lever 39 in engagement with a crank on the spindle 29 which is connected to the driving-shaft 32 by bevel-wheels. The carriage 23 is moved along the bed by means of a screw, or the bar itself may be moved. In a modified arrangement, the cup-shaped tool is replaced by a pair of straight cutters clamped in a holder. The connecting-block may be removed by a machine analogous to a slotting-machine, as shown in Figs. 19 and 20. The cutters 74, which work from above on each of the vertical links, are mounted in concentric holders 72 in an arm 80 which is formed on a shaft rocked by cranks. Similarly the cutters 75, which act from below, are mounted in holders 73 in an arm 83 also rocked by cranks ; the cutters of each pair are caused to move towards each other by means of worm gear 77, 79. Both sets of cutters may be mounted on one oscillating piece. Another type of apparatus, Figs. 21 and 22, is adapted for shearing or nipping out the connecting-block ; 89 are cutters mounted in rocking arms 91 and formed with cutting-edges 89<b>, 89<c>, curved to suit the ends of the links 1 and 2 respectively and joined by a straight cutting-edge 89<d>. The process and appliances are applicable for stud-link chains.